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It has been an extremely exciting day for Indian fans with quite a lot of action happening at Tokyo 2020. After PV Sindhu secured a bronze medal for the country, the onus was now on the men's hockey team who were playing their quarter-final clash against Great Britain. Coming on the back of some brilliant performances in the pool stages, the fans had started to expect a medal from Manpreet Singh's side in Tokyo. And we can say that India rose up to the occasion when it mattered the most!
India through to semis in men's hockey
As soon as it was confirmed that India will be up against Great Britain in the quarter-finals, it was always going to be a thrilling match. After an exciting start to the game, India broke the deadlock as Dilpreet Singh opened the scoring post a smart assist by Simranjeet Singh. With a narrow 1-0 lead, India did not sit back as they kept on playing positively in an attempt to double the lead.
Their efforts reaped rewards when Gurjant Singh scored an impressive goal. Afrer Hardik intercepted the ball from a wayward Great Britain pass, he found Gurjant with a cheeky little pass, who later made a swift move to double India's advantage in the knockout game.
Nerve-wracking second half in Tokyo
India started the second half with a 2-0 advantage and looked in complete control of the game. However, things turned upside down for Manpreet Singh's side as Great Britain finally got a flurry of penalty corners towards the end of third quarter before they eventually scored on the third one. It was 2-1 in favour of India going into the final 15 minutes and the stage was set for a nail-biting end.
As expected, Great Britain came out all guns blazing in the final quarter and completely dominated India. They came up with back-to-back attacks but India's goalkeeper P. Sreejesh produced some brilliant saves. Against the run of play, India produced a brilliant counter-attacking move and Hardik scored a brilliant goal to seal a 3-1 win for his side, securing their berth in the semi-finals.
India will be now up against Belgium in the semi-finals of the event, which is scheduled to take place on August 3, Tuesday from IST 7 AM onwards.